ON 8 May 1945 the wartime allies, Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States, declared victory over fascism in Europe.

Approximately 50 million people had been killed in the war - half of them civilians and almost half within the borders of the Soviet Union. Many millions died in the concentration camps: Communists, Socialists, all those opposing fascism and up to six million Jews, Roma and gays, victims of a hate-filled ideology designed to divide working people. The Victory of 8 May 1945 was celebrated with the pledge that fascism would never again be allowed to rise. Yet today fascist parties are again on the rise. This PDF examines the circumstances that led to the development of fascism, how its rise was financed by those seeking to defend an old, corrupt and exploitative order, how in the 1940s it was suppressed - and why today its renewed rise must be defeated at all costs.